Many peripherals to computer networks include a scanner component. One example of such a peripheral is an “All-in-one”, also known as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) in that it has the capability to perform the multiple functions of scanning hardcopy documents, copying, digital sending, and printing. Another example is a digital network copier that scans in documents from an automatic document feeder, does high volume copying, and has the capabilities of binding, collating, folding, stacking, stapling, stitching, edge-trimming, paginating, and printing on substrates of varied composition. Each of these peripherals, when in communication with an interconnected network, can also be described as being a digital transmitter device. A digital transmitter device is an appliance that has an input device (e.g. a keyboard), a display, and a scanner. The digital transmitter device need not have a printer. A digital camera is a type of digital transmitter device, but in comparison to the foregoing, it is not as useful for handling documents and typically lacks the resolution and ability to rapidly and repetitively transfer information after scanning to a repository.
In an exemplary digital transmitting operation, a hardcopy of a document or other physical object can be presented to the scanner portion of a digital transmitter device. After scanning, the digital transmitter device transforms the scanned image into a digital representation that is then saved in a data format, such as in a bit map data format or in a Portable Document Format (PDF). Electronic messaging can be used to send an electronic mail (e-mail) message from the digital transmitter device with an attachment of the digitized representation in the data format. The e-mail message can be sent to recipients over the interconnected network, where the recipients have an e-mail address that a user manually enters at the digital transmitter device or that a user specifies using a predefined defined list of recipient e-mail addresses that can be stored in a memory of the digital transmitter device.
While digital transmitter devices are convenient, they lack the functionality required for sophisticated e-mail messaging. Current default messages used by digital transmitter devices when sending e-mail are impersonal. Adding new items associated with e-mail addressing and messaging, such as new address book entries, footers for e-mail messages, formatting for e-mail messages, etc. is difficult. Current digital transmitter e-mail capabilities are few and difficult to use. Moreover, adding such e-mail functionality to a digital transmitter device can complicate the firmware of the digital transmitter device. It would be beneficial to be able to use Internet E-mail functionality with a digital transmitter device without complicating or adding expense to the digital transmitter device. Consequently, there is a need for methods, apparatuses, digital transmitter devices, and programs that can provide such a capability.